Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are widely used in consumer and commercial applications. As is well known to those skilled in the art, a light-emitting diode generally includes an active region on a microelectronic substrate. The microelectronic substrate may comprise, for example, gallium arsenide, gallium phosphide, alloys thereof, silicon carbide, and/or sapphire. Continued developments in LEDs have resulted in highly efficient and mechanically robust light sources that can cover the visible spectrum and beyond. These attributes, coupled with the potentially long service life of solid state devices, may enable a variety of new display applications, and may place LEDs in a position to compete with well entrenched incandescent and/or fluorescent lamps.
Standard LED packaging typically comprises an epoxy-based encapsulation layer to both protect the active device from the elements and to enhance the optical output of the LED dice. Unfortunately, an epoxy-based encapsulation layer may optically degrade when used with relatively short wavelength (e.g., 525 nm), high flux LEDs.